Maxine Waters vs big banks: How the House Financial Services Committee plans to take on Wall Street

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) on the banking industry and how House Financial Services Committee Chairman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) warned U.S. bankers that she will be keeping a close eye on misconduct in the banking sector.

Following the resignation of Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, threatened to take more actions against big banks.

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Freshman Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-Calif.) told “After The Bell” that the goal of the committee is to ensure that the Federal Reserve and banking regulators are carrying out the instructions Congress handed in the wake of the financial crises.

“This isn’t about adding on regulation. This is about guarding the fed from removing too much regulation and leaving taxpayers on the hook,” Porter said on Tuesday.

While Waters had threatened to break up the big banks, Porter said, “I’m more concerned about making sure that small banks and credit unions are on a level playing field with big banks.”

The Financial Services Committee member is the first Democrat to represent California’s 45th district since its inception in 1983, but when asked if taking on Wall Street would be bad politics, she stated, “In my career as a consumer advocate I helped lots of consumers. Some were democrats, some were republicans. It didn’t matter. They wanted to be treated fairly.”

Porter went on to praise Congresswoman Waters’ leadership in bringing some of the financial institutions and important actors in front of the committee.

“I think what the chairwoman has really excelled at doing is bringing some of these actors to Congress and having hearings that have been too long in the making,” she said. “Beginning to have these hearings and have these conversations, it’s up for the American public in part to get to hear from Wells Fargo about what happened.”